We all know how difficult it is to get RT tickets during seat sale (which, by the way, is becoming a weekly showdown among budget carriers -- hallelujah!). We all know it's muuuuuch more difficult for big groups. During Cebu Pacific's February 14 sale, I was able to book tickets to Busuanga for 7 people. It's a miracle having booked 7 people at the same time, so you could just imagine how ecstatic I was. Unfortunately, I was able to book one-way tickets only. Bummer! I didn't want to let go of the one-way tickets even if it meant we had to anxiously wait for another round of seat sales. The upcoming waves of sales from Cebu Pacific, however, didn't give us some love. Our travel period was May 30 to June 3, and tickets were becoming pricier as the days passed by. On March 18, though, I saw Airphil Express' P596 base fare sale and grabbed the chance to book seven Busuanga-Manila tickets. I was happy but scared at the same time. There are plenty of reasons to be scared.

First, I have never flown with Airphil. I am the kind of person who easily gets attached to things and wouldn't let go of them nor consider other options if there's no need to. Cebu Pacific has always been my one and only :p But I knew that the next seat sales would only be for travels during late 2012 to early 2013. I checked Cebu Pacific's website daily and regular base fare is P3,999++. Too pricey! The seats we scored from Airphil were P1,693.00 each. That's a lot better than what could have been a P6,000 Cebu Pacific ticket.

Second, Airphil has some kind of a bad reputation, at least on my mind. Super delayed flights and flight mishaps = Airphil (and ZestAir ;p). I know that Cebu Pacific has its own share of mortifying stories but it's always been Ariphil that comes to mind when bad airlines are being talked about. Here's why: last February, an Airphil plane ran off the runway in Caticlan.

And here's a video of an airport incident where passengers had to wait for so many hours but were eventually told that their flight was cancelled. Ooops.

And here's another one of those delayed flight fiascos.

June 03, 2012. 01:15 P.M. We were the first ones to arrive at the Francisco B. Reyes Airport for the 3:05 PM flight. We sipped cups of overpriced coffee and ate those yucky hotdog sandwiches just to silence our growling stomachs while waiting for the Q300 plane that would take us back to Manila. I was quiet the whole time while waiting and observing other people (I love people-watching ♥).

02:00 P.M. Our companions who took the 12:05 P.M. Airphil Express flight informed us that Cebu Pacific cancelled their MNL-BUS flight due to bad weather. We were hoping Airphil wouldn't follow suit.

02:24 P.M. An Airphil staff announced that the plane would land at 02:35 P.M. Sighs of relief everywhere, yo! XD

02:36 P.M. Not exactly on the dot but the plane landed safely. We waited for the passengers from Manila to get off the plane (took about 10 minutes) + baggage + pilot and staff going to the rest room or whatnot.

02:45 P.M. The ground staff instructed us to to fall in line. Rows 20 to 10 first, then rows 9 to 1. It was drizzling outside but Airphil provided umbrellas for the passengers.

02:55 P.M. The plane was ready to take off 10 minutes earlier than scheduled. I was impressed. Perhaps it was because everything seemed so systematic! Starting from the passengers alighting from the plane, to the unloading of baggage, to the loading of the next batch of baggage and onto the instructing of the next pool of passengers. Everything was organized. I'm not sure if this is also due to the fact that the Busuanga airport is soooo small it's just plain dumb not to be organized. Very simple process and less hooplas compared to the NAIA Terminal 3. Whatever it is, thumbs up to Airphil and F.B Reyes Airport!

So no delayed flights or similar incidents yet. I told myself it's too early to be impressed because the real deal's on when the plane gets off the runway and into the big blue sky. I had the window seat in row 9 and had the perfect view of the plane's propeller. It looked, uhm, old -- with patches of paint to cover aesthetic flaws. Then I looked around and noticed that the window edges were dirty, and so were the seats. Should be the least of my concerns, really, but couldn't help but notice even the minutest of details :O

When the plane finally took off, I noticed that the sounds from the propeller or probably the engine were too loud. Toto, who was sitting beside me, noticed the same thing. I don't think it's because we were seated near the propeller, because I remember being seated in the same row when I flew with Cebu Pacific last time and it as wasn't noisy as this. The sounds made me feel like the whole flight was shaky.

03:35 P.M. The plane landed in NAIA safely, thank God. Here's a video of our landing last June 03, 2012.

My first time with Airphil is generally good. Here's a summary of the good and bad points of Airphil based on my experience:

The Good♥ Not delayed!♥ Very orderly in Busuanga airport♥ Brave pilots*

*it would have been a different story had we flown with Ceb Pac, which is kinda notorious for being easily frightened even by the slightest hint of rain

The Not so Goodx Kinda dirty planex Shaky and noisyx No quick orientation**I was so used to Cebu Pacific giving instructions on what to do in case of emergency. Even if Airphil knows that nobody listens to the FAs, I think it's still an SOP.

AirPhil (aside from AirAsia) is usually the first we look at coz we noticed it offers way cheaper year-round fares than CebuPac (we used to be loyal to CebuPac too). We took AirPhil to Coron early this year, & our only complaint was it was too hot inside the plane during the flight! They didn't seem to have turned on the AC. :/ But no delays yet whatsoever. :D

Reply

Trialaland

11/9/2012 05:14:12 pm

Heeeeey! :) I don't check AirPhil as much because I don't have a credit card XD